Bushy Brow and Billboard Brow
by Magical Kitty
Summary: "I understand how you feel. I also have classmates that are mean to me. They make fun of me almost every day, actually." One-shot.


**A/N:** **I want you to know that if a story already exists under this title, or if you own the cover art that I used and do not wish for me to use it, pleasepleaseplease let me know and I'll fix it immediately.** And another thing, just as a head's up, this will probably be the last story that I upload to this account. I made a new account that I share with my boyfriend, our pen name is** Writer And A Half**. K, that's my little public announcement lol :)

As for the story, I've been wanting to write a story like this for a while, because I find it interesting that both Lee and Sakura were teased when they were children, and it would have been cute for them to meet and to comfort each other. Well, at least Lee comforting her and basically blushing forever because of how cute he thinks she is, because that would be a Rock Lee-ish thing to do ;) anyway, i'll stop talking now. :D

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"Henge no jutsu!"

A young Rock Lee stood in the middle of the academy training grounds, his hands were clenched tightly forming a sign, and his face was scrunched up in concentration. The sun hung in the sky, caught somewhere between afternoon and sunset, as if it was waiting patiently for Lee to perform his technique. _Maybe this time... _Lee thought hopefully.

But it was no use. It was just like all the other countless times he had tried to perform this jutsu, he couldn't do it. He didn't know what he was doing wrong. His hand signs were right, but nothing would happen. His teachers couldn't even give him a valid reason for his failure to execute ninjutsu. He continued to hold his pose, desperate for something, _anything_ to happen. Out of frustration, he allowed a small tear to roll down one of his cheeks.

"Hey, Bushy Brow!" The voice of one of his classmates snapped him out of his trance. He turned around and a few yards behind him, there were a few kids with smug looks on their faces. The one who was talking to them was the self-proclaimed "leader" of the gang, a male who was the oldest in their class. "Just give it up! You'll never be a good ninja if you can't even do a simple transformation technique." His posse began to giggle. Lee felt shame and anger build up inside his chest. He angrily turned his whole body around to face them.

"Yes I can!" He shouted. "I will work hard and become a great ninja!" They all just laughed at his response.

"How?" Another one of them spoke. This time it was a young kunoichi. "Don't tell me you're just going to use taijutsu."

"Yeah!" Another, a male, chimed in. "That's stupid. They're not gonna let you do that." The leader walked closer to Lee until they were face to face and the others started to encircle him. Naturally, Lee was feeling highly defensive and threatened. He was ready to fight them if he had to, even though he usually prefers to just brush it off peacefully.

"Look," The leader said with an arrogant smile on his face, "Just take my advice and give up. You're a failure." Without warning, he pushed Lee down to the ground. Before Lee had the chance to react violently – which was his full intention – the other kids verbally attacked him with an onslaught of insults.

_Dropout! Failure! No talent! Bushy Brow! _Tears sprung into Lee's eyes as he pushed his hands onto his ears. He scrambled to his feet and tore his way out of the kids that had him trapped. They did nothing but chortle scornfully as he ran in the direction of a forested area.

"I will prove to them I can be a great ninja..." He said angrily to himself through gritted teeth and bitter tears. His eyes were closed, and little did he know that there was another academy student running right in his path.

The two young ninja crashed into each other and fell to the ground.

"Ow..." Lee muttered as he started to get up. He looked up to see who he ran into. His heart sputtered. It was kind of like the world stopped and reality became beautifully fragmented. His tears stopped. He blinked once. He blushed. It was a girl – a cute one at that – who was maybe a year younger than he was. She had cherry blossom pink hair that almost covered her vibrant green eyes that were sparkling with tears at the moment. She looked at him and started crying even more. She couldn't handle dealing with anybody at the moment. Quickly, she got up and started to run away.

"W-wait!" Lee got up and grabbed her arm urgently, as if he would never see her again. She turned to look at him and sniffed.

"W-What do you want?" She choked out.

"Please excuse me." He let her go and bowed a little. "I did not mean to knock you down." A small smile crept on his lips. "My name is Rock Lee. What is yours?"

"I-I'm... my name is... is..." The volume of her voice diminished with each word.

"Um, excuse me. Can you please repeat that?" He cupped an ear to his hand.

"Sakura Haruno!" The young girl said loudly. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Oh, I see. Sakura-san, is it? Why were you crying?" She noticed he looked concerned. She wasn't really used to seeing that facial expression from other kids her age.

"They... they were being mean..." She said quietly. "My classmates..."

"I understand how you feel. I also have classmates that are mean to me. They make fun of me almost every day, actually." Despite the circumstances, Lee felt kind of lucky; he was the only one he knew of that was made fun of at this school, and now he just had a run-in with someone who shared his pain. And she was a cute someone, he might add. Sakura looked at his face and noticed his big eyebrows. She thought that must be the reason, but she didn't say anything in case she was wrong.

"Why?" She asked.

"I am unable to perform ninjutsu techniques. At the moment, anyway." He smiled. She was stunned.

"You... you can't use ninjutsu?" She asked incredulously. She thought everyone was able to use ninjutsu. She didn't even understand why he was trying to be a ninja if he couldn't. "Then... how...?" He chuckled at her curiosity; he could tell that she was an intelligent girl.

"I plan to work hard enough to be able to use ninjutsu! And if I cannot use ninjutsu, then I will become a great ninja using only hand-to-hand combat skills!" She said nothing. She didn't want to say it, but she didn't think he had a chance. "So how about you? Why do they tease you?" Her tears started falling faster. She gently placed her hand over her mouth in order to suppress herself from crying out loud.

"My... my forehead..." She hiccuped. Lee had a look of both worry and confusion on his face.

"What about it?"

"...It's big..." She cried even harder. She raised her gently curled fists to her eyes in order to wipe her tears, and was startled when she felt a third hand on her forehead. "Stop!" She shouted with her eyes shut tight. She knew once he saw it, he would make fun of her too. However, he didn't heed her wishes and gently lifted her bangs out of her eyes to reveal her forehead. For a moment he just stared at her, but then he blushed and smiled. The young kunoichi opened her eyes after a few seconds.

"I think you look even cuter with your hair out of your eyes." Sakura blushed slightly. Lee definitely was not the cutest boy she's seen in the academy. In fact, she was really put off by his giant eyebrows. She didn't really like his long hair either, which was tied up in a braid that ran down his back. Still, he was the very first boy to call her cute, and she did care greatly of what the other boys thought of her. She didn't really know what to say. Lee moved his hand and placed both hands on his hips confidently. "Trust me. You look fine! Please do not let the other kids get to you. I can see in your eyes that you will also become an excellent ninja one day. We will both work hard to get there!" His enthusiasm astounded the little seven-year-old girl.

"Yeah..." She said while smiling a bit.

"So no more crying!" He said playfully. Suddenly, a bright blush appeared on his cheeks. "Who knows? Maybe when we are older, I will ask you to be my girlfriend! Neat, huh?" Sakura's heart fell at that. She did _not_ want a guy that looked like this as a boyfriend. "Well, I have to be getting back to training now. You should too. And if we ever meet again, I want you to know that I will be a stronger ninja the next time we meet. That is a promise!" He smiled brightly. "Farewell, Sakura-san!" He said happily as he ran off.

Sakura didn't really know what to make of that kid. He was kind, dorky, and he looked really... weird. How does somebody have eyebrows that thick?! But there was one thing she was sure of...

She hated to admit it, but she knew she would probably meet him again some day.


End file.
